BERLIN: German authorities said Friday they took down the country’s largest Internet marketplace for narcotics and arrested 11 suspects from Germany, the Netherlands and Poland.
Police and prosecutors said in a statement that they worked for more than a year to smash Chemical Revolution, which sold amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, cannabis, ecstasy, LSD and other synthetic drugs.
Accepting Bitcoin payments, the site started operations in September 2017 and was allegedly run by a 26-year-old German man. He has been in custody since May.
The latest suspects arrested — eight Germans aged 24 to 35, two Poles aged 32 and 44 and a 43-year-old Dutchman — managed the acquisition, packaging, transport and distribution of the illicit wares.
The police operation made its first swoop in early 2018 with the arrest of a German man in the eastern state of Brandenburg found with a significant stash of drugs at his home.
Between February and May 2019, German investigators working with colleagues in Poland, the Netherlands, France and Spain arrested another 10 suspects.
The statement by authorities Friday did not provide information on the total amount of drugs sold on the site or its revenues before it was shut down.
In May, German authorities announced that they had dismantled the world’s second largest darknet market.
The “Wall Street Market” site traded in narcotics as well as stolen data, fake documents and malicious software.
The encrypted platform had more than one million customer accounts, over 5,000 registered sellers and more than 60,000 sales listings.
Investigators believe the operators of Chemical Revolution also sold drugs on Wall Street Market.
Police smash Germany’s biggest online drug market
Police smash Germany’s biggest online drug market
- Accepting Bitcoin payments, Chemical Revolution started operations in September 2017
- Internet marketplace sold amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, cannabis, ecstasy, LSD and other synthetic drugs
Filipino rescuers detect ‘signs of life’ in garbage avalanche that killed 4 and left dozens missing
- Twelve workers have been rescued with injuries from the huge mound of garbage
- “Authorities confirmed the presence of detected signs of life in specific areas, requiring continued careful excavation,” Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival said
MANILA: Rescuers detected signs of life in an avalanche of garbage that killed at least four workers and left more than 30 others missing Thursday in a central Philippines landfill and plan to intensify search efforts, an official said Saturday.
Twelve workers have been rescued with injuries from the huge mound of garbage that collapsed among the low-slung buildings of a waste management facility in the village of Binaliw in Cebu City, authorities said.
Dozens of rescuers including police, firefighters and disaster-response personnel have raced against time to find more survivors in dangerous conditions in the rubble of twisted tin roofs, iron bars and combustible heaps of garbage and debris.
“Authorities confirmed the presence of detected signs of life in specific areas, requiring continued careful excavation and the deployment of a more advanced 50-ton crane, which is enroute with police escort,” Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival said in a statement.
“Safety of responders remains paramount due to hazards such as unstable debris and acetylene risks, prompting adjustments to the security perimeter and controlled access,” Archival said.
The four dead, including an engineer and a female office worker, were all employees of the landfill and waste management facility with a staff of 110, according to the mayor and police.
The initial list of victims on Friday included two dead and 36 missing, which increased Saturday to four dead, according to Archival, who did not provide an updated nunber of people missing.
The cause of the collapse of the mountain of garbage remains unclear, but a survivor told The Associated Press on Friday that it happened in an instant without any warning despite fairly good weather at the time.
Jaylord Antigua, a 31-year-old office worker at the landfill, said the wall of garbage cascaded down and destroyed the administrative office he was in. He extricated himself with bruises on his face and arms by crawling in darkness in the rubble and debris.
“I saw a light and crawled toward it in a hurry, because I feared there will be more landslides,” Antigua said. “It was traumatic. I feared that it was my end, so this is my second life.”
It is unclear how the accident would affect garbage disposal in the landfill in Cebu, a bustling port city of nearly a million people that serves as a regional hub for trade, commerce and tourism.
Preparations “are also underway to manage the looming garbage collection issue,” Archival said in his statement without further details.
Such landfills and open dumpsites have long been a source of safety and health concerns throughout the Philippines, especially in areas close to poor communities where many residents scavenge for junk and leftover food in the garbage heaps.
In July 2000, a huge garbage mound in a shantytown in suburban Quezon City, part of metropolitan Manila, collapsed and ignited a fire after days of stormy weather.
The disaster left more than 200 people dead and many more missing, damaged scores of shanties and prompted a law requiring the closure of illegal dump sites nationwide, as well as improved and more sustainable waste management by authorities.
